NO OTHER NAME

9.00am and 10.30am Sunday 30 April 2006

Readings: Acts 4:1-22

 

David Kupelian, the Editor of WorldNetDaily, recently published a book called "The Marketing of Evil", which has been described as a huge eye opener. In it Kupelian seeks to show why things have got so bad in the West spiritually and morally in the space of just one generation. He says that today's Americans have fallen victim to some of the most stunningly brilliant and compelling marketing campaigns in modern history.

 

"The Marketing of Evil" reveals how much of what Americans once almost universally abhorred has been packaged, perfumed, gift-wrapped and sold to them as though it had great value. He says, highly skilled marketers, playing on their deeply felt national values of fairness, generosity and tolerance, have persuaded us to embrace as enlightened and noble that which all previous generations since America's founding regarded as grossly self-destructive - in a word, evil.

 

He gave a speech at the end of last year entitled "How 'Marketing of Evil' Really Works". He speaks of how tactics, similar to those used by the advertising industry, have been employed to discredit the Judeo-Christian values of our nations.

 

Language is extremely powerful, whether it is written and spoken, and Kupelian says if you change the meaning of words, you change reality." He illustrates this by saying that abortion is legal in America because of a single word: "choice". The early abortion marketers figured out that it would be much easier to defend an abstract, positive-sounding principle like "choice" than the unrestricted slaughter of unborn babies. The news media believed it, got behind it and powerfully promoted it, to the extent that the "pro-choice" battle was basically won almost before it started. How can you be against "choice"?

 

Kupelian talks of another technique that comes in really handy - in fact, it's essential - when you're involved with the marketing of evil. It's called lying. To make bad stuff look good, you have to lie about it. William James the well-known psychologist from early last century said: "There's nothing so absurd but if you repeat it often enough people will believe it." (The source of lies.)

 

In "The Marketing of Evil," Kupelian interviews the co-founder of America's abortion movement, Bernard Nathanson. He founded the largest abortion clinic in the Western world, and co-founded NARAL, the vanguard group that got abortion legalized in New York in the 1960s. Most impressively, Nathanson said that he sat around with a few others and literally made up the original marketing slogans, "freedom of choice" and "women must have control over their own bodies." This is what Nathanson told Kupelian in the interview and he quotes: "I remember laughing when we made those slogans up. ... They were very cynical slogans then, just as all of these slogans today are very, very cynical." In other words, they knew they were just conjuring up deceptive marketing messages.

 

Nathanson today admits he and his abortion colleagues lied left and right. They fabricated statistics and poll results and fed them to a willing news media. The most powerful abortion-marketing slogan of all was "Women are dying." In the years before Roe v. Wade, Nathanson and his abortion marketer cohorts were claiming that 5,000 to 10,000 women were dying every year in the U.S. from illegal, botched abortions. But it wasn't true - not even close - and they knew it. The number of women who actually died from illegal, botched abortions in 1972, the last full year before Roe v. Wade, according to the Centres for Disease Control figures, wasn't 5,000 or 10,000, it wasn't even 1,000 - it was 39. Americans were betrayed by abortion marketers, and particularly, by the news media who were convinced legalized abortion was an enlightened and progressive change America needed. And so they joined in the propaganda campaign that led to Roe v. Wade.

 

What happened there made it easier for similar laws to be passed in New Zealand in 1977. According to the latest figures I have, there were 18,211 Abortions in New Zealand in 2004. The one bright spot is that it was 300 less than in 2003, thought to be due to the new 3D/4D ultrasound scanning technology that has enabled vivid images of babies in the womb to be shown around the world.

 

There have been other things that have happened in New Zealand, such as the move for Civil Unions. Think of all the clamour and arguments put forward in support of the so-called many who'd been waiting for years to have their relationship recognised in law. It was expected that there'd be a flood of people requesting this once it was passed. Last Wednesday, 26 April, marked one year since the Civil Union Act 2004 came into effect. In that time only 460 civil unions have been registered, along with over 21,000 marriages.

 

The international bestseller The Da Vinci Code is another example of where lies have been portrayed as truth. The plot of the novel involves a conspiracy by the Catholic Church, including among other things a cover up of the "true" story of Jesus, namely that he married Mary Magdalene and fathered a daughter whose bloodline continues into present-day Europe. In the foreword to the 2003 book the author, Dan Brown, blurs the line between fact and fiction by claiming "all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in the novel are accurate" but Dr Adam Claasen, a New Zealand historian, says "it reads like a comedy of historical errors of Fawlty Towers proportions." But there will be many who will, or would rather, believe Brown than seek out the truth for themselves. They are even organising tours to the places mentioned in Brown's book. I always thought New Zealand missed out on a great opportunity when they didn't provide tours to the places where the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy was filmed.

 

I share this because there are, always have been and always will be, powerful forces at work that seek to either hide the truth, distort it, or actively repress it so that evil can have its way. This was true of the religious leaders of Acts 4. They would stop at absolutely nothing to rid themselves of these troublemakers, just as they'd got rid of Jesus their Master, so long as the general populace didn't get in the way. Note the main group mentioned who were angry were the Sadducees, the rationalists of that time, who didn't believe in the supernatural, including such things as life after death. These were the ones who made up the bulk of the Jewish Sanhedrin, the highest ruling body in Israel at that time. And it is perfectly clear from Acts that these men were determined to stamp out what they considered an heretical sect no matter if it meant sacrificing basic principles of justice and fair practice, even if it meant breaking God's law. They would use whatever was expedient to gain their purpose. After all it was their litany of lies and their distortion of the truth that had secured the crucifixion of Jesus.

 

We are told they were greatly troubled, greatly disturbed, vexed through and through, about what the apostles were saying, and in particular their teaching the people that the dead would be raised to life, just as Jesus had been raised from death. Just when they thought they were rid of Jesus, they now had his zealous band of followers to contend with, whose numbers were growing daily.

 

As we saw a few weeks ago, such people have their counterparts in today's society, people who do not believe in the supernatural. Things have not changed much since the first century.

 

So the leaders arrested Peter and John and had them put in jail overnight. But they couldn't stop people from believing, and Luke tells us that the men who'd now become followers the Lord numbered about five thousand. Luke uses a different word to that in Acts 2 where it says three thousand 'souls' believed. Here the word applies more exactly to men only. The next day the whole Jewish Council gathered to question the apostles, and asked, "By what power and in whose name have you done this?" And Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, replies...vs 9-12.

 

What is God saying to us through this passage this morning, and in particular through the words of Peter on this occasion? What is its application to our lives for April 2006? What can we learn from it to our benefit, to encourage us, to challenge us, to inspire us, to motivate us?

 

There are three things in particular.

1. First of all there's Peter's boldness. One of the radical differences that we see in the Book of Acts as compared to the end of the Gospels, is how Peter has been transformed from a man who slept when he should have been praying; from a man who followed Jesus at a distance after his arrest so that he wouldn't be recognised; from a man who, only hours after making empty boasts of being willing to die with Jesus, three times blatantly denied knowing Jesus and of being one of his followers: to a man who commands the attention of thousands, to a man who boldly proclaims that Jesus is the Messiah, the One who all Israel has been waiting for these long centuries; to a man who fearlessly lays the blame for Jesus death on the shoulders of the people, and in particular their leaders, knowing full well the hornet's nest that's likely to stir; to a man who does signs and wonders in the name of Jesus, of which this current incident is but one of many. What made the difference? What happened to change this man from a mouse to a lion?

 

There's but one answer, and that is the Holy Spirit. Jesus said to his apostles that they were to wait in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high, to receive that which the father had promised them. He said that they'd receive the power to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth, when the Holy Spirit came upon them. This is the power God wants for you who are believers here today. You, too, are called to be his witnesses. You, too, need the power to be an ambassador for Jesus amongst the unsaved members of your family, at your place of work, amongst your friends. You cannot witness in your own strength. The Holy Spirit is the Helper God has promised to all who obey him. And how do you obtain this power? Jesus said, "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"[1] "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." God doesn't call you to do something for which he doesn't equip you. His is completely faithful. We all need today this same boldness that Peter displayed before the leaders of his nation. Ask him for this gift today. It is your birthright as a follower of Jesus. He will not deny it to you.

 

2. Secondly, this passage says, "When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realised that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men has been with Jesus."[2] Would or could people say that of you? When they look at your life, what you do, what you say, your attitudes and actions, are they led to note, as these leaders did of Peter and John, that you have been with Jesus? Are you different from those about you who don't know the Lord? Is there a quality about your life that's attractive, that makes people say, "I want what that person has"? Is there a graciousness about your speech that builds up people and inspires them? Is there compassion in your heart that lets people know that you really care about them and their concerns? This will become increasingly evident as you nurture your relationship with Jesus. As you spend time with him you will become increasingly like him. This is God's will for your life, that you become conformed to the image of his Son.[3] He wants us to become more and more like Jesus, and the only way that happens is by spending time with him.

 

So what do you do to nurture your relationship with your Lord? Do you spend time with him daily? Do you read his Word? Do you consciously worship him other than on Sundays? All of life can be an act of worship to God? Do you gather with other Christians for fellowship and mutual encouragement? Proverbs says, "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another."[4] We need each other to grow and develop to maturity in our faith. The Scriptures say that we're not to give up "meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching."[5] This is referring to both Sunday worship as well as other meetings.

 

And never think that God cannot use you because of your lack of education, or your standing in life. Peter and John were humble fishermen. They hadn't had a university education, and yet God took their experience as fishermen to catch people for his kingdom. And he can do the same with you. Whatever experience you've had, whether it be with your work or in life, he can take and use as you follow him. The Bible is full of examples of the most unlikely, ordinary people being used of God in extraordinary ways to accomplish his purposes.

 

3. If you aren't a follower of Jesus, what Peter says here in verse twelve is for you. He says, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved."[6] There's only one person who can save you, make you whole, for as Peter says here in Acts "Salvation is found in no one else." The name 'Jesus' means 'Saviour'. There's only one person through whom you can be reconciled with your Creator, for "God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them."[7] There's only one person through whom you can receive the full and total forgiveness of your sin, past, present and future, for "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."[8] If God is such that there is no other God like him, should we be surprised that his one and only Son is unique, too. There's only one person who can free you from the power of sin and sinful habits in your life. The apostle Paul expresses what we all know to be true, "For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing. ...What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!"[9] And there's only one person who can give you the hope of eternal life. Jesus wasn't resuscitated as those he raised to life during his earthly ministry. He rose to a completely new life and is the only founder of a world religion to have done so. Again the Scripture affirms this: "But Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep."[10] Jesus said, "Because I live, you also will live."[11] One day he'll return to take us to be with him forever.

 

Don't be tricked by the untruths and half-truths that people would have you believe, but base your trust firmly on what he says in his Word. Jesus is the 'way to God', he reveals the 'truth' about God, he give 'life' in all its fullness,"for there is no other name given under heaven by which (you) must be saved."